A popular and intelligent Bromsgrove teenager was found dead on a railway line hours after receiving an abusive and threatening message on a social networking site, an inquest has been told.

Worcestershire Coroner's Court, in Stourport-on-Severn, heard that Natasha MacBryde, a 15-year-old grammar school pupil, had also used the internet to research methods of suicide in the run up to her death.

Natasha, who had suffered multiple injuries, was found dead by a train driver just 150 yards from her home in Bromsgrove, in the early hours of February 14 this year.

Giving evidence to an inquest jury, Detective Sergeant Shanie Erwin said Natasha was known to have received a short anonymous message containing personal abuse via the Formspring networking site on February 13.

The message, which was read to the jury by Det Sgt Erwin, derided Natasha for "hiding" behind make-up and ended: "Start acting nicer to people or you will lose everyone. Mark my words."

Det Sgt Erwin said Natasha, who was part of a close-knit group of 10 friends at Worcester's Royal Grammar School, then sent back a message on Formspring asking: "Who are you?"

It also emerged during the hearing that Natasha, whose parents had separated, came home from school in tears around two weeks before her death, saying she did not have any friends.

Det Sgt Erwin told the hearing that officers had spoken to some of Natasha's close friends in the days following her death and had found that she also had a "disagreement" on Facebook on the evening of February 13.

After the jury ruled that the schoolgirl had taken her own life, her parents, Andrew and Jane MacBryde, said they believed anonymous messages on Formspring had played a significant role in the events of February 13.

The statement, issued by British Transport Police, said: "As a family, we continue to deal daily with the impact that the terrible loss of Tasha has had on all of our lives.